Ripple Rewind - Power of Passion

I revisit a post that was done in 2005 when I was just discovering what passion meant to me. I had just come out with my book - no one knew me and I was scared to death. Now three years later...I realize it was the passion I had for an idea that fueled me back then...as it still does today.

What a ride! I haven't made it in front of 50,000 people but I keep swinging for the fences and know someday it will happen.

Enjoy this Ripple Rewind!

________________________
(originally published August 2005)

Have you ever seen Bruce Springsteen in concert? I have had the pleasure of seeing him perform three times live and I can still feel the chills on the back of my neck. The thing I love the most about watching Bruce and the E Street Band play is their passion for what they do. Bruce and his band play with such incredible energy that by the end of the concert you know you were just fortunate to be to witness it.

The excitement and energy that comes out of their show is simply amazing. Bruce is over fifty now and yet he performs as if he is still in his twenties. I recently read an interview with him where he was asked about how he has managed to keep up the pace for as long as he has. When most artists are turning into mellow old mockeries of their former selves, he seems to be just getting warmed up. He said one word which resonates with me today....PASSSION. He has passion for bringing the very best experience to everything he does, whether it's writing a new song or delivering a live performance. He knows that with just a few short hours and some well placed words in a song, he can take you away from your troubles, pull you out of the dullness of everyday life and excite you. Without passion for his job, he wouldn't be able to do that.

It makes me think about how many people are showing up to their jobs with little to no passion for what they do? Bruce drinks up the audience like a fine wine and savors it. He feeds off the anticipation of what the audience wants and expects and explodes at just the right moment to give it to them. He transforms people and brings them off their feet and into a state that is simply hard to explain unless you have experienced it first hand.

My point here is his passion is infectious. It turns a moderately conservation chap like me into a raving lunatic when the piano starts to pound with THUNDER ROAD or BORN TO RUN. I reach a level that I feel as if I am almost on stage with him, entertaining, changing 50,000 lives right there with him. Wow...what an amazing feeling!

Though likely none of us are ever going to be performing in front of 50,000 people we do perform every day, in front of the people that cross our path. Our co-workers, our friends and family and yes, the perfect stranger. What if we could find a way to tap into that passion and be on full throttle delivering ourself at a level 10, rather than the level 2 (or below) most of us put out there every day?

If you aren't in a job that is inspiring and filling you with passion, take a hard long look at your life. Time is something you can never get back but the experiences are what our stories will be made up of down the line. Do you want your personal or professional story to be one that is average or one that was brimming with PASSION and inspirational?

If you don't have it, go find it! Quit making excuses and holding yourself back. Don't wait until tomorrow for tomorrow may be too late!

The mood is set, the crowd is chanting your name, the spotlight is illuminated and it's time for you to walk on stage!

Come on......

FEED US YOUR PASSSION!!!

Ripple On!!!

Super Bowl Determination

Today is SUPER BOWL Sunday. For two teams today is the culmination of a road filled with hopes, dreams and gritty determination. And at the end of the day there will be one team who will stand up and will hold that coveted Super Bowl trophy and will be forever called Super Bowl Champions.

Beginning each September, every team in the NFL begin their competitive campaign with the exact same record. The New York Giants and the New England Patriots both started at square one with no wins and no losses. Somewhere along the way both teams found something that the other thirty teams in the league simply didn't. They found their stride, their will and ultimately the drive to succeed and best every one of their challenges and of course, opponents along the way.

Their teams started out not really any different than you or myself. Though we don't necessarily start with a football record of 0-0, we do all start with the same exact amount of time in our days, the same amount of days in our months, the same amount of months in a year...you get the picture. Though our lives can't be compared to that of a football season, we are in fact in a much more exciting position. We have the opportunity to demonstrate the same kind of commitment, the same kind of passion and the same kind of drive and best those challenges and competitors we face along the way.

I have said it before and I will say it again. You can sit the bench in the game of life and just let things happen to you....or you can decide to take your shot and be an active player and ultimate drive of it.

Which game would game would you rather be playing in?

Enjoy today's game (even though The Dallas Cowboys aren't playing in it) and tomorrow...get off the bench and go find your stride, your will and your drive to succeed. And maybe, just maybe, we will one day soon be saluting you, a coveted champion in your own right. Forget that, I am already saluting you....because I already believe in you!

Ripple On!!!

It's Easy When You Have Passion

Today was a great day! As some of you may know, I am in the middle of delivering my comprehensive 3 day customer service training program for the State of Texas tax assessors and collectors. Today was the first day of the course and after a power-packed couple of modules I was paid one of the highest compliments that I think I have ever been paid.

At our final break one of the students came up to me and said, "I have attended training courses throughout my career but this is the first one that I have actually enjoyed from start to finish. I know we have a long way to go but if tomorrow and the next day are as a good as today has been, then I can't wait to see what's next."

She then made a comment that ironically has some relevance to a BLOG post I had a few weeks ago on the subject of passion (click here if you want to check it out). She said, "Who would have thought a boring topic like customer service could be so much fun."

I was of course humbled by her compliment and appreciative of her assessment of the course as being fun. I work very hard at what I do to deliver a performance that will undoubtedly stick in someone's mind long after they have left my class. It is my sincere goal that the information and how I share it will hopefully serve as a compass which will guide and stir not only them, but those that they work with and ultimately serve.

As I left the Omni Hotel today I was both proud and excited to have such positive feedback on the first day of my course. As I drove home I thought about what she had said and some of the other positive comments that had been received by other students throughout the day and I just smiled. I know without a doubt that I am destined to do exactly what I am doing and that is one of the most surreal and incredible feelings you can imagine. My passion, my drive and ultimately my desire comes out when I am training, speaking and pontificating (yes, I do that from time to time) and I am having more fun than a person should be allowed to have. Obviously it shows...or at least it did today.

On days like this my passion can't help but shine through and burn with such intensity that it (hopefully) leaves an indelible mark on the people I am lucky enough to serve. I feel absolutely blessed to be to be able to impact someone (hopefully many people) in some way. Talk about the ultimate Ripple!

I guess this is what Bruce Springsteen feels like as he holds the microphone as the first notes of Born To Run begin to play and the crowd goes absolutely nuts. Man....what a rush!!!

Ripple On!!!!

Steve Harper

P.S. If your organization sells a product or service and has customers....you might be interested in what my course has to offer. I promise your people will walk away with a truly refreshing approach to servicing both your internal and external customers. This ain't your typical blah blah blah boring same old customer service training....I can assure you of that. No organization can get enough education when it comes to serving the customer so why not learn how to service those customers...Ripple style?!? If you're interested in learning more about my course, please email at steve@ripplecentral.com

The Pursuit of Happyness

For those of you who don't know I am a huge movie buff. I love going to the movies but with kids and a wife who doesn't like to go to the movies, my movie trips have significantly diminished over the years. I still go from time to time (I am the lame guy sitting all alone with his soda and bucket of popcorn) but I have become far more of a DVD kinda guy. That's why I simply LOVE Netflix and the vast array of movies, documentaries and newly discovered concerts that are just a mouse click away.

Last night was my semi-regular movie night and boy did I watch a good one. I had intended to see The Pursuit of Happyness with Will Smith when it was in the theaters but never got around to it. I had heard it was an amazing movie and very inspirational so I was excited when it landed in my mailbox fresh from Netflix yesterday.

The movie is about Christopher Gardner, a man that literally faced insurmountable odds to provide for his son and to create the life that he knew he was destined to have. Here is a brief summary from Christopher's website as to what he faced:

Always hard working and tenacious, a series of circumstances in the early 1980’s left Gardner homeless in San Francisco and the sole guardian of his toddler son. Unwilling to give up Chris Jr. or his dream of financial independence, Gardner started at the bottom. Without connections or a college degree, he earned a spot in the Dean Witter Reynolds training program. Often spending his nights in a church shelter or the bathroom at a Bay Area Rapid Transit station in Oakland, Gardner was the sole trainee offered a job at Dean Witter Reynolds in 1981. He spent 1983-1987 at Bear Stearns & Co., where he became a top earner, and then in 1987, he founded the brokerage firm Gardner Rich & Co. in Chicago.

I can not tell you how inspirational I found this movie and ultimately this man to be. The odds he had to overcome in an effort to make his life work stands as yet another example of just what is possible if you truly, truly believe in yourself and have a little faith.

If you have a dream of being somewhere other than where you are today, take a page from Christopher Gardner. Go pursue your Happyness (watch the movie and you will understand).

Thank you Mr. Gardner for helping reignite my passion for pursuing my happyness.

Ripple On!!!


Steve Harper

Perform With Passion

I had an insightful meeting yesterday in which a colleague of mine asked me where I seem to get my endless supply of passion and drive. It seems that her and several of our joint acquaintances were talking recently about how infectious my drive and desire to help people can be. Apparently they all wished they could plug into me for a "passion and drive fix" from time to time. Needless to say I was very humbled by her comments and proud.

And of course, I reminded her, like I might remind you, plugging in with me is easy! It's the only way I know to coach and I am very, very good at my job!

Anyway it made me recall a BLOG post I did way back in 2005 just after launching my book on the very subject of passion. I thought it might be worth a revisit. Hope you enjoy it and will post a comment or drop me an email.

Click here for the Power of Passion Post

Ripple On!!!

Steve Harper

Power of Passion

Have you ever seen Bruce Springsteen in concert? I have had the pleasure of seeing him perform three times live and I can still feel the chills on the back of my neck. The thing I love the most about watching Bruce and the E Street Band play is their passion for what they do. Bruce and his band play with such incredible energy that by the end of the concert you know you were just fortunate to be to witness it.

The excitement and energy that comes out of their show is simply amazing. Bruce is over fifty now and yet he performs as if he is still in his twenties. I recently read an interview with him where he was asked about how he has managed to keep up the pace for as long as he has. When most artists are turning into mellow old mockeries of their former selves, he seems to be just getting warmed up. He said one word which resonates with me today....PASSSION. He has passion for bringing the very best experience to everything he does, whether it's writing a new song or delivering a live performance. He knows that with just a few short hours and some well placed words in a song, he can take you away from your troubles, pull you out of the dullness of everyday life and excite you. Without passion for his job, he wouldn't be able to do that.

It makes me think about how many people are showing up to their jobs with little to no passion for what they do? Bruce drinks up the audience like a fine wine and savors it. He feeds off the anticipation of what the audience wants and expects and explodes at just the right moment to give it to them. He transforms people and brings them off their feet and into a state that is simply hard to explain unless you have experienced it first hand.

My point here is his passion is infectious. It turns a moderately conservation chap like me into a raving lunatic when the piano starts to pound with THUNDER ROAD or BORN TO RUN. I reach a level that I feel as if I am almost on stage with him, entertaining, changing 50,000 lives right there with him. Wow...what an amazing feeling!

Though likely none of us are ever going to be performing in front of 50,000 people we do perform every day, in front of the people that cross our path. Our co-workers, our friends and family and yes, the perfect stranger. What if we could find a way to tap into that passion and be on full throttle delivering ourself at a level 10, rather than the level 2 (or below) most of us put out there every day?

If you aren't in a job that is inspiring and filling you with passion, take a hard long look at your life. Time is something you can never get back but the experiences are what our stories will be made up of down the line. Do you want your personal or professional story to be one that is average or one that was brimming with PASSION and inspirational?

If you don't have it, go find it! Quit making excuses and holding yourself back. Don't wait until tomorrow for tomorrow may be too late!

The mood is set, the crowd is chanting your name, the spotlight is illuminated and it's time for you to walk on stage!

Come on......

FEED US YOUR PASSSION!!!